Horror Express (1972)

Director:

Eugenio Martín

Writers (WGA):

Arnaud d'Usseau (screenplay) and
Julian Zimet (screenplay) (originally as Julian Halevy)

Release Date:

December 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Can it be stopped?

Plot:

An English anthropologist has discovered a frozen monster in the frozen wastes of Manchuria which he believes may be the Missing Link...

Plot Keywords:

Monster | Anthropologist | China | Train | Fossil

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Christopher Lee	...	Prof. Sir Alexander Saxton
Peter Cushing	...	Dr. Wells
Alberto de Mendoza	...	Father Pujardov
Silvia Tortosa	...	Countess Irina Petrovski
Julio Peña	...	Inspector Mirov
Ángel del Pozo	...	Yevtushenko (as Angel del Pozo)
Telly Savalas	...	Captain Kazan
Helga Liné	...	Natasha
Alice Reinheart	...	Miss Jones (as Alice Reinhart)
José Jaspe	...	Conductor Konev (as Jose Jaspa)
George Rigaud	...	Count Marion Petrovski (as Jorge Rigaud)
Víctor Israel	...	Maletero - the Baggage Man
Faith Clift	...	American Passenger (as Faith Swift)
Juan Olaguivel	...	Creature (as Juan Olaguibel)
Barta Barri	...	First Telegraphist
Peter Beckman	...	Second Telegraphist
Hiroshi Kitatawa	...	Grashinski (as Hiroshi Kitazawa)
Vicente Roca	...	Station Master
José Canalejas	...	Russian Guard
José Marco	...	Vorkin
Allen Russell	...	Captain O'Hagan
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Fernando Villena	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Eugenio Martín		(as Gene Martin)

Writing credits (WGA)
Arnaud d'Usseau		(screenplay) and
Julian Zimet		(screenplay) originally as Julian Halevy

Produced by
Bernard Gordon	....	producer
Gregorio Sacristán	....	associate producer

Original Music by
John Cacavas

Cinematography by
Alejandro Ulloa

Film Editing by
Robert C. Dearberg		(as Robert Dearberg)

Production Design by
Ramiro Gómez		(as Gomez Ramiro)

Set Decoration by
Ramiro Gómez

Makeup Department
Rafael Berraquero	....	assistant makeup artist
Fernando Florido	....	makeup artist
Romana González	....	assistant hair stylist
Julián Ruiz	....	makeup supervisor
María Nieves Ruiz	....	hair stylist

Production Management
José María Ramos	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Gil Carretero	....	assistant director
Vicente Escrivá hijo	....	second assistant director

Art Department
John Chisholm	....	props
Juan Gracia	....	property master
Julián Martín	....	painter (uncredited)

Sound Department
Manuel Ferreiro	....	boom operator (as Manuel Ferreiro Sierra)
Antonio Illán	....	sound supervisor
Luis López Díaz	....	sound recordist
Enrique Molinero	....	sound mixer

Special Effects by
Pablo Pérez	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
Brian Stevens	....	optical effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Teo Escamilla	....	camera operator
Simón López	....	still photographer (as Simon Lopez)
Luis Peña	....	focus puller (as Luis Pena)
Antonio Vega	....	assistant camera

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Andrés Fernández	....	wardrobe master (as Andres Fernandez)
Carmen Manzano	....	wardrobe mistress
Charles Simminger	....	wardrobe supervisor (as Charlie Simminger)

Editorial Department
Fernando Megino	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Katrina Bayonas	....	unit publicist
Rafael Perez Murcia	....	set assistant
José Luis Rubio	....	production assistant
Isabel Ruiz Capillas	....	script supervisor (as Maribel Ruiz-Capilla)

Production Companies

• Benmar Productions
• Granada Films

Distributors

• Astral Films (1974) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Scotia International (1974) (USA) (theatrical)
• Les Productions Jacques Roitfeld (1975) (France) (theatrical)
• New Century Pictures (1980) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Simitar Video (1997) (USA) (DVD)
• Simitar Video (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• Image Entertainment (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Image Entertainment (2000) (USA) (VHS)
• Alpha Video Distributors (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• DMEG (2004) (Sweden) (VHS)
• Geneon Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Mill Creek Entertainment (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• Severin Films (2010) (USA) (DVD)
• Severin Films (2011) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-Ray)
• Orlando Eastwood Productions (2012) (USA) (DVD)
• BijouFlix Releasing (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Divisa Home Video (????) (Spain) (DVD)
• European Video Corporation (EVC) (????) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• GoodTimes Home Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Interglobal Home Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Media Home Entertainment (????) (USA) (VHS)
• New Star (????) (Greece) (VHS)
• Prism Entertainment Corporation (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Something Weird Video (SWV) (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Videocast (????) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Worldvision Enterprises (????) (USA) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Digital Post Services  sound restoration

Also Known As:

"Panic in the Trans-Siberian Train" - International (English title)
"The Possessor" - USA (reissue title)

Runtime:

USA:90 min | USA:88 min | Spain:84 min

Country:

UK | Spain

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Norway:15 | Spain:13 | UK:15 (video rating) (1994) | UK:X (original rating) | USA:R | Germany:16 | Finland:K-16 (1990) | France:U

Filming Locations:

Estudios Madrid 70, Daganzo, Madrid, Spain

Company:

Benmar Productions

Trivia:

The train interior sets and the train model used for the exterior shots were the same sets that the producer/director had just used for their collaboration Pancho Villa (1972), which had just finished production and which also featured Telly Savalas.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: The cave where the creature is discovered is identified as being in Manchuria, the far north eastern region of China, but is also identified as Szechuan province which located far from Manchuria in western China.

Quotes:

[Mirov has opened the crate and found the body of the missing baggage man inside it]
Dr. Wells:Are you telling me that an ape that lived two million years ago got out of that crate, killed the baggage man and put him in there, then locked everything up neat and tidy, and got away?
Professor Saxton:Yes, I am! It's alive, it must be!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Films to Keep You Awake: The Christmas Tale (2005) (TV)

I loved it!

The first halve of this movie is pretty standard seventies horror stuff like featured in most of the old Hammer movies. The second halve however really surprised and impressed me. I loved it!

I really love old-horror movies with both Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee in it. In this movie they are better than ever together. Their acting is superb and so is the rest of the cast even though it is a bit strange that almost all of the Russians are played by Spanish people. Telly Savalas also shows up in a fun role. Savalas is probably best known for portraying Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond movie "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" but he also played in classics like: "Cape Fear" (1962), "Kelly's Heroes", "Capricorn One" and "The Dirty Dozen". It's wonderful to see such fine acting in one movie because normally mainly it are just only Cushing and Lee who are the only good actors in a movie like this.

Also this movie is actually scary and gory and it has a really good atmosphere. It starts like some kind of monster movie like "Creature From the Black Lagoon" but the second halve of the movie is more like a Zombie movie like "Lifeforce" (which is an underrated horror classic in my opinion with a great soundtrack). A combination that worked really well for me.

The story stays simple and of course ridicules but it still is better than 90% of the other movies from the same genre and it actually goes deeper in trying to explain some of the things.

In my opinion a real horror classic!

8/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/